Announcing the 2025 Postdoctoral Support Awardees
The Global One Health Academy is excited announce the six recipients of the 2025 Postdoctoral Support Awards. Awardees will receive support for research or training expenses that advance interdisciplinary One Health research or implementation.
Lucas Albano, Ph.D.
The interactions between plants and herbivores form the foundation of many ecosystems and support global biodiversity. However, environmental stressors like extreme heat and drought, which are becoming increasingly prevalent due to anthropogenic climate change, can disrupt these interactions by altering how plants invest resources into mechanisms of defense against herbivory. These disruptions have the potential to cause further cascading effects on other species interactions and ecosystems as a whole. It is crucial to investigate how rapid climate change affects species interactions to better understand the ongoing threat of biodiversity loss and the potential for negative impacts on the health of entire ecosystems. Therefore, the goal of Lucas Albano’s work is to investigate how a recent heatwave and drought event has affected investment into defense in the scarlet monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis) across its geographic range to improve our understanding of how species interactions might be impacted by continued environmental change.
Katherine D’Amico-Willman, Ph.D.
Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that infect bacteria and play key roles in bacterial evolution. The emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria has ignited interest in harnessing phage biology to develop new therapies to treat bacterial pathogens affecting human and plant health. Despite their importance and potential as a management tool, our knowledge of phage diversity is still limited, and this lack of understanding is particularly relevant for phages that infect important plant pathogens. Thus, the long-term goal of Katherine D’Amico-William’s research is to explore the diversity of phages infecting plant pathogenic bacteria and develop improved resources to better characterize phage function and taxonomy.
Izabela Moura Duin, Ph.D.
Moura Dinn’s postdoctoral research has focused on the use of non-pathogenic pectinolytic microbes for industrial applications. Here she proposes to further investigate the biocontrol potential for a subset of these previously-isolated microbes. Pectinolytic bacterial strains hold significant promise as biocontrol agents in sustainable agriculture. With further research and development, these bacteria can provide eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides, reducing reliance on harmful agrochemicals and supporting global food security.
Charles Kwadha, Ph.D.
Charles Kwadha is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Coby Shal’s lab. He studies olfactory-mediated behavior of bed bugs, which because of an intimate association with their human and chicken as blood hosts, are attracted by olfactory odors of human and chicken. He aims to establish an effective lure that can inform the development of an attractant to improve early detection, monitoring and surveillance of bed bugs in homes and poultry farms.
Raman Rao, Ph.D.
Raman Rao’s research addresses the growing issue of non recyclable municipal solid waste (NMSW) in the USA, which contributes to the environment pollution and overburdened landfills. The project focuses on application of AI-enabled hyperspectral imaging combined with multi sensory data to improve the real time sorting and analysis of NMSW. This approach aims to reduce landfill reliance and prepare conversion ready feedstock for energy production contributing to circular economy.
Alejandro Valdes, Ph.D.
Alejandro Valdes is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Pierce Group at NC State University, where he specializes in medicinal and synthetic organic chemistry. His research focuses on designing and optimizing bioactive molecules to combat antimicrobial resistance, with recent work on developing novel antifungal agents for crop protection. Passionate about entrepreneurship, Valdes is dedicated to creating products that have a meaningful impact on both veterinary and human health. This award will support his efforts in evaluating new antifungal compounds and strengthening collaborations in agricultural chemistry. “My goal with this project is to develop sustainable, environmentally-friendly solutions to combat harmful plant diseases.”
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